Monday, November 14, 2005

Waffles

Some oatmeal-flax waffles, cut into strips and spread with peanut butter, packed with a little container of maple syrup for dipping; organic blackberry- applesauce (our favorite), and some roasted sweet carrots with cinnamon. Beverage: calcium- fortified orange juice.Verdict: Sometimes I'm frustrated by how little time they have to eat their lunch -- 20 minutes. He ate all his waffles and juice and was halfway through his carrots when the teacher told everyone time was up. He ate his applesauce after school. That's one reason why I don't send a lot of beverages; I think he plays around with the bottle, and the liquid fills him up quickly but leaves him hungry later. 3 stars.

34 comments:

Jamie
said...

Hi Jennifer,

You always do such a great job of incorporating lots of different food groups in Shmoo's lunch. I have a quick question about today's spread.

Is the organic blackberry applesauce homemade? I have a cookbook called Sproutman's Kitchen Garden Cookbook, and it extols the virtues of homemade ketchup, tomato sauce, jelly, sprout bread etc. I was just wondering if you'd had luck with these types of homemade goods. I think the general public usually buys them at the store for convenience, but I hate all the extra sugar, salt, and crazy ingredients that go into all of it.

Hi, jamie! No, the applesauce was storebought (Santa Cruz Organics). The only ingredients are organic apples and organic blackberries, so I feel good about supporting this product. But you're right, so many storebought items contain extra salt, sugar, and junk. It's very easy to make homemade applesauce if you can find good-quality organic apples.

I always use homemade tomato sauce and fruit jams. I also make lots of homemade basics, like soymilk, bbq sauce, all-sprout bread, pumpkin puree, grinding flour and cornmeal, etc. But life is so busy! When I don't have time, I try my best to buy organic and all-natural. That cookbook sounds interesting! Let me know if the homemade ketchup is good; I still haven't found one I like.

Wow, just twenty minutes - it's a wonder they don't all get indigestion. What's the reason for such a short time?

I couldn't believe that school starts at 7 am where I moved too. That means kids are being rooted out of bed at 6 am or earlier. That's just nuts. What happened to civilized times, like when I was young fifty years ago.

Wow, this is one of my favorites, and I've been reading for a while. I never would have thought to pack waffles. And putting blackberries in apple sauce might just be enough to make me eat apple sauce. Yum.

Hi, I'm a newish reader, stocking up on ideas for when my son starts school, which isn't for a few years but I have trouble with lunches for some reason, can never figure out what to make!

Can't believe the 20 minutes to eat, kids always take ages over their food, how are they supposed to enjoy a meal when they have to throw it down their necks that fast? Something I always try not to do with my son is rush him, I let him eat as much as he wants in his own time.

I'm wondering about your lunchbox as well, those containers must have a really tight seal to be filled with sauce and it not to come out when tipped on it's side? Does it also keep things at a nice warm or cold temperature? They look great so I'm considering an investment for the future! :o)

I haven't made applesauce in a long time, but, as I recall, my Mom just used to put chunks of apples in a sauce pan and simmer. A little water may be needed to start to prevent burning. Sugar was added to taste when it was mush. If you leave the skins on when you do this, I believe the red color comes naturally. Then take the skins out when done, via a strainer. Maybe add a little cinnamon if you like.

This is a whole other planet from the yellow sour inedible applesauce that is store bought.

This also makes rhubarb sauce. Start with chunks of rhubarb, simmer into mush, add sugar to taste. Both recipes are very quick.

Exactly! How are they supposed to digest their food and enjoy their lunch if it's so rushed? I have no idea why they can't allow more time for eating. But gee, at least we don't have to get to school until 8:15. 7am would be ungodly.

Hi, anna! Re. the lunch box, the container holding the applesauce has a tight-fitting lid; the other containers use the larger lunch box as their lid. It won't do for liquids, but it's fine for everything else. The lunch box then fits into an insulated carrying case. If you insert a little ice pack it will keep everything cold, otherwise things are relatively at room temperature. I use a thermos for things that need to be kept hot.

Hi, karen anne! You can also add some apple juice instead of water to get the sauce going, that adds a bit of sweetness. I also like to cook applesauce with raisins. Apple rhubarb sauce is good, but a bit tart.

Those carrots look so yummy. 20 minutes is very short, and considering this country's rising obesity rates, we could stand to teach children to eat a little slower. Children naturally eat VERY slowly. When I was a toddler teacher, we started lunch at 11:10 and there were some kids STILL eating when we started to get into cots/turn off lights at 12:10!

We can't find calcium fortified orange juice that doesn't have vitamin D3 in it. They changed all of the plain calcium fortified ojs to calcium plus Vitamin D fortified OJ. It makes me mad because it was a really good source of calcium for me.

Jennifer, I have been reading this blog for a while, like the pp, I am stocking up on ideas for future lunches for my kids. You do such a great job! I would love to have your waffle recipe. My kids love waffles and so do I, especially in place of regular bread for a toasty lunch sandwich with nut butter and jam. Little Shmoo is so lucky!

Actually, "Cholecalciferol, the D3 form of the vitamin, can be obtained from animal or microbial sources. The most common source for vitamin D3 is ergot, a fungus that can be grown on rye or other cereal grains. "--From whfoods.com

also, Vegetarian Journal contacted Tropicana and Florida's Natural to ask about the source of their added Vitamin D, and although Florida's Natural said theirs does originate with Lanolin (from Sheep's wool),

"Tropicana said, “The form of vitamin D added to Tropicana products is vitamin D3. It is a synthetic powder and is the same form that is added to milk. Our source of vitamin D is not derived from an animal.... The form we use of vitamin D3 is cholecalciferol. It is made synthetically from 7-dehydocholesterol which is also made synthetically. This does not come from an animal source.” We were unable to obtain more information about the starting material of their 7-dehydocholesterol."--www.vrg.org/journal/index.htm-- 2004, issue 3, notes from the scientific department

If you're worried about it, you could write to the company and see if they know where their D3 comes from. Hope this helps. (sorry so long)

Also, as an easier alternative, Organic Valley makes a calcium fortified OJ with tri-calcium citrate, and no vitamin D. www.organicvalley.coop

Another great lunch, Jennifer!! For those of you wondering about early school starting times and short lunch times, as someone who has recently taught, I may be able to shed a little light. As far as the early starting times (ouch--7am!), many school districts have to use the same buses for elementary, middle, and high school students due to lack of money. This means the starting and ending times have to be staggered in such a way to accomodate bussing all these kids. As far as the short lunch times, I think this has to do with the continual push for higher test scores and more emphasis on academics. I know that the elementary teachers where I live are forced to teach a specific reading program for at least 2 1/2 hours per day. As you can imagine, this leaves very little time to fit in all of the other subjects (math, science, social studies, p.e., music, art, etc), let alone for lunch. Just as art and music have been cut dramatically over the last few years, so has lunch been cut, apparently. Sorry for the lengthy post on this, but I'm a "frustrated with the entire system" teacher, who is currently not teaching due to all of the problems with our American educational system!

Hi, mal! Yes, it's my oatmeal pancake/waffle recipe. It uses all oats, no wheat, with lots of flax and no oil. They taste so good, even plain and cold. The only down side is that oat batter tends to stick, so we'll see if it makes it into the book. I'm hoping my volunteer tester will get her rear in gear and test them already (hurry up, mom!).

I'm a school social work intern, and at the elementary school I'm at, the kids technically get 30 minutes for lunch, but by the time they get to the cafeteria and get their lunches, they're down to maybe 20 minutes. They're yelled at to eat quick, and generally end up throwing away half of their lunch so they can go back to class. The waste of food is appauling (then again, so is the cafeteria food!! completely void of nutrition, but most of the kids couldn't otherwise afford to eat), and I hate seeing the cafeteria aides forcing them to throw out their food while they're still eating. What happened to hour long lunch periods? I've only been out of elementary school for 15 yrs.

Anyway, I hope little shmoo gets to enjoy his lunches as best he can in 20 minutes!

another good lunch..i absolutey love peanut butter and i never thought to spread it on waffles, i mite have to try that next time..Im a red-meat vegetarian, so i eat most things except beef, veal and no pork..but im a health food fanatic and that organic applesauce looks really good..i saw that you said it was santa cruz company?..theres a chain of health food stores near me called mrs. greens who i believe sell that brand..anyways..just readign some of the comments about school lunch times..and im a senior in high school...and i can commiserate with the pain of having a shortenened lunch..due to the amount of work and college apps ive been doing..i have no time to go to the cafeteria and instead eat a hurried lunch during my classes..ah such is the life of the ridiculouly competitive school i attend..anyways i know this was way too long but just putting my two cents in before i go back to hw-Dayna

I'm sorry, but I just have to say please, Dayna, don't call yourself any kind of vegetarian. It creates so many problems for those of us who are actually vegetarians or vegans. We vegetarians/vegans often get fed fish or chicken by those who have heard that vegetarians simply don't eat red meat. I applaud you for what sounds like a healthy diet overall, but call yourself a "pollo-pescetarian," not a red-meat vegetarian. One of my students told me he was a vegetarian, then I discovered he ate fish and allowed himself chicken on the weekends! I say you can only earn the title if you actually walk the talk.

I need to stick up for Dayna.I don't think any vegan does thecause any good by being sanctimonious. Give the girl a break! If she needs an educationabout what it means to be vegetarian, can't it be done gentlyand kindly??? And do vegans harshly judge vegetarians? This isa great blog, let's not make it ugly! Thank goodness Jenniferis not judgmental!!!!

im sorry if i offended anyone with my comment about being a "red-meat vegetarian", thank you for clarifying me on the right term about being called a "pollo-pescetarian"..i was truly unaware of the correct terms and i didnt mean to make anyone angry or offended

Dayna, in my humble opinion,if anyone was really that offended,they need to get a life. There areso many things in this world to getupset about. Really serious, awfulthings - just watch the news. To get upset with you for calling yourself a "red-meat vegetarian"is - well - sad, to say the least.I am anonymous from above.

I like other nut/seed butters instead of peanut (which some schools, I'm told, don't allow because of kids with allergies), and I put some on/in nearly everything, including waffles.

I will look for the apple-blackberry sauce; it sounds good. The only jarred sauce that I have liked to-date is Trader Joe's organic. No other!

Regarding the young woman who didn't know how to describe her diet here, I didn't find the reply post correcting her too harsh, just direct. The poster explained why it's a problem to label yourself something when you aren't that something in actual fact. And the young woman accepted the suggestion to re-evaluate and re-label herself very well, too. This is a nice blog!

Although Dayna accepted the correction of what label to apply to herself, I still think it is a rigid and self-rightous attitude,that feels it is necessary to correct a young girl who is in highschool. And to say you have to earn the label vegetarian as if its a medal. I am 50 years old, and I have certainly learned much since my high school days. I guess I don't like labels, and "pollo-pescetarian" sounds silly to me.I fully understand the reasons for going vegan. I just don't think it's right to be judgmentalabout it. Everybody finds their way in this world. I think it'sover-the-top to barf at the termred-meat vegetarian.